National Instruments Releases 2016 Watch Report on IoT Trends

National Instruments has released an annual report that focuses on Internet of Things standards and requirements for industrial systems. The 2016 Trend Watch report discusses how adding measurements to systems will become easier, as well as how network standards are evolving to satisfy next-generation industrial systems requirements. Finally, it examines the designing of smart test systems that can adapt to and test all smart devices, and the "consumerization of software."

Gartner Predicts 1.6 Billion Connected Devices in 2016

Technology research firm Gartner is expecting a rise in smart commercial building systems to help usher in a growth in IoT systems deployment next year by 39 percent over 2015. A new Gartner report indicates that the number of connected devices will grow from 1.18 billion this year to 1.64 billion next year, 2.33 billion in 2017 and 3.33 billion in 2018.

The analyst company bases those predictions on the expected rise in IoT systems deployed in health care, public services, smart buildings and homes, transportation and utilities, as well as in miscellaneous other categories. Smart cities will require IoT solutions, with smart homes expected to represent 21 percent of total IoT use in smart cities in 2016. Thanks to data collected from sensors, smart cities can interact and engage with residents and businesses, thereby creating a collaborative environment, according to Bettina Tratz-Ryan Gartner's VP of research.

Redpine Signals Releases WiSeMCU Wireless Modules

Redpine Signals has launched its WiSeMCU modules to be used with the company's WyzBee IoT Platform. According to the company, this will enable businesses to create a wide range of device form factors.

The WiSeMCU is available in a single-band (2.4 GHz) wireless module (the RS10002), as well as a dual-band (2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz) module (the RS10003) that includes a faster 160 MHz ARM Cortex M4 microcontroller offering higher memory capacity—1 megabyte.

The microcontroller modules comes with multi-protocol wireless and networking stacks (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and ZigBee), advanced security—tamper- and clone-proof mechanisms—deep power modes with less than 100nA power draw for IoT devices with multi-year battery life, and high wireless performance for energy- and bandwidth-efficient data transfer.